Saturday 16 January 2016 19:45, UK
Leicester City winger Riyad Mahrez says he is only thinking about maintaining the club's Premier League title challenge rather than leaving the King Power Stadium.
Mahrez is enjoying an impressive season so far for Claudio Ranieri's side, contributing 13 goals and six assists to help them sit level on points with Arsenal at the top of the Premier League table heading into Saturday's match at Aston Villa, live on Sky Sports.
However, it is that kind of form in front of goal which has also attracted the attention of Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham, according to reports in the Daily Mail.
The player dismisses such stories, saying he is focused solely on maintaining Leicester's surprise title bid.
"Of course it is nice, but I do not think about things like that," he told Soccer Saturday in an exclusive interview ahead of the Foxes' trip to the west Midlands.
"When you hear some things, it is normal. I do not really care about things like that. I just focus on my club and season and we will see what happens."
Leicester face a Villa team on Saturday Night Football who, like themselves 12 months ago, are bottom of the Premier League and staring relegation in the face.
The Foxes, under the guidance of former manager Nigel Pearson, managed to escape the drop though after embarking on a remarkable run in the second half of last season.
And the Algeria international believes Leicester's opponents this weekend can repeat their heroics of last year.
"It was amazing," says Mahrez. "Sometimes we think about that. In one moment we just kept on losing, but when we started to win one, two, three… we really believed we could stay in the Premier League.
"I think they [Villa] just need to win four of five games in a row like we did last year. When we started to win the games and score the goals, you start to dream, and then you keep the dream alive because you keep winning and scoring goals. So that is the magic of the football."
As for Leicester's own title chances, the 24-year-old simply repeats the old cliché about taking each game as it comes, starting with Saturday's at Villa Park.
"We are keeping the dream alive," Mahrez says. "We take it game by game and it is fantastic for the team and club and is amazing to be top of the league for a long time. We are dreaming at the moment and it is fantastic."
Mahrez is happy to be playing alongside in-form striker Jamie Vardy, the Premier League's joint top scorer at present with 15 goals.
"In every team you need a player like that, coming from nowhere, who can play with freedom and it is a very fantastic moment," he says.
But it is all such a far cry from when Mahrez joined Leicester - who were then in the Championship - from Ligue 2 club Le Harve for just £400,000 in January 2014.
"It has been like 10 years since they [Le Harve] were last in the Premier League [Ligue 1] and it is difficult as in France clubs do not have a lot of money, so it is difficult for them to buy good players," he says.
"It is not the same in England, the clubs have money and can buy everyone, which is why the league is fantastic with every player from every country.
"It was difficult to come from a different country, changing everything and what you are used to doing. I changed my language and it took time to adapt in this country and league. But everyone in the club helped me a lot and they were very nice."
Two years on and the Algeria wide man has been a refreshing revelation of the season, the Foxes' fox in the box.
See more from Soccer Saturday's exclusive interview with Riyad Mahrez from 12pm on Sky Sports News HQ.
